Larry Owens and the Tulsa 66ers are Headed to the D-League Finals

by Jon L on Apr 21, 2025 1:37 AM EDT in D-League Playoffs 2010 Comment 2 comments

Ridiculous Upside hearts Larry Owens. (Do people still say "hearts?")

Tulsa 66ers 127, Iowa Energy 122 (Box Score)

This game...wow. It really was mostly the fourth quarter, but the whole thing completely fell apart. Five people got hit with technicals, including Curtis Stinson who was ejected with two minutes left in the game for arguing with, then going after, the referees. The Energy were still able to get within two points with five seconds left, but couldn't take the lead. It's next-to-impossible to recap how crazy the fourth quarter was, so I'll point you towards the comment thread/live-blog so that you can read minute-by-minute reactions. KCCI in Des Moines at least has video of Stinson's ejection, though, and as you can see he was definitely heated. Of particular note:

The point at which the announcers started blatantly calling out the refs for their terrible calls (there were 56 fouls handed out).
The time when Curtis Stinson vomited on the court.
Deron Washington (with some help from the officials) getting under the skin of the Energy players.
A questionable blocking foul called on Connor Atchley (it probably was a charge on Washington), which led to:
Curtis Stinson getting ejected and needing three or four guys to restrain him, which led to:
Fans ~~and a scoreboard operator~~ (that last one was rumored but apparently untrue) getting ejected, and an overall atmosphere of being on the cusp of a fight breaking out.
Tulsa being awarded a timeout with five seconds to go in the game even though they may not have had a timeout left.

Monstars/Non-stars after the jump.

Monstars:

If you read that comment thread, then you likely know of Scott's and my love of Larry Owens. He had 20 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, and showed off some nice ball-handling ability and post moves. I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but what I probably like the most about Owens's game is that he never looks out of control when he's playing. He even slipped at one point while dribbling the ball, but never lost his handle and was able to recover quickly.
Latavious Williams was excellent off the bench for Tulsa, mostly in the first half, and he finished with 19 points and nine boards in 22 and a half minutes. He really has grown over the course of this season from picking up DNPs early on to being an important contributor.
I somewhat begrudgingly mention Deron Washington, because while he finished with 21 points on 12 shots, he also was the beneficiary of some (many?) questionable calls. Washington shot 17 free throws, and while he probably didn't flop quite as often as the Iowa announcing team thought, he was smart to recognize that the refs were going to blow the whistle at pretty much any contact he got in the paint.
I'll also mention Stinson, because his outburst aside, he played a very good game. 32 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for Stinson, along with only one turnover. Stinson probably had some legitimate beef with the officials, though he still needs to control his temper a little better (understatement). I'm still not sure what caused him to throw up, though.

Non-stars:

Iowa collectively shot just 4-20 from outside, so there are a lot of people to pick here. We'll start with Jeff Trepagnier, who seems to have settled for jumpers a lot more in the playoffs and was 0-6 from beyond the arc. With Iowa now out of the playoffs, Jeff Trepagnier can now fulfill the wishes of RU and please, stop shooting.
Darian Townes apparently played 7:43 of this game, and I don't remember seeing him on the court at all. If that doesn't tell you enough about his (non-)presence, then the fact that he took no shots, grabbed no rebounds and picked up one foul should.
I do remember Marvin Phillips playing, though, and the problem for Iowa was that almost none of it was good. 1-6 shooting overall including a missed three-pointer, although he did have five rebounds and a block in less than 11 minutes.
I'll also throw Denham Brown and Pat Carroll up here in a bonus extra double-non-star. Carroll's shooting has been off for most of this post-season and he went 1-4 from outside here. Denham Brown finished with decent numbers, 15 points and 12 rebounds, although he faded as the game went on, needed 14 shots to get those 15 points, and turned the ball over five times.

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